Monday, June 30, 2008

When Good Ideas Go Bad...

Saturday was the FAB's Cyber Sew-In Day, which coincided with JudyL's Quilt-a-thon. Great, I thought...a 'two-fer'...sew with the FAB's and report in with Judy...little did I know what laid ahead for me :)

SATURDAY was Cher's turn to pick a pattern and challenge fabric, if any. With some help from fellow FAB, Linda, a design was drawn up and e-mailed out, affectionately called 'CGF'. Now this pattern was real similar to a pattern of Thea Jerak, Four on the Floor, that I've been wanting to make. Even had fabric pulled, imagine that! So I started measuring and cutting, oops! need a tad more focus fabric...no problem...big box store to the rescue. Well, take a look at the other FAB's bright and cheerful tops (both finished and in process). Cher, Norma, Pam and Linda's (trust me...it's cute and bright..she e-mailed the pic out...will link when she blogs about it :) )
EDIT: Linda posted her CGF top here.

Now, here is my quilt, finished at 41 x 61...no borders added.
Bad idea #1: using vintage WW1 airplanes as the focus fabric...reminds me of war and shooting people :(
Bad idea #2: first time using the Popcorn pantograph from Willow Leaf Studio. Lots of tight turns...never did find a rhythm. I had read somewhere in blogland (sorry...forgot where) that the popcorn pantograph reminds her of clouds.
Bad idea #3: looking for cloud fabric for backing, not having enough and piecing it. Reminds me of water...see where my thoughts are taking me?!

At about 3:00 pm, I was wishing I was doing something other than the popcorn twist when the power blinked off...then stayed off. Wish granted. No power, no quilting, no sewing, no TV, and napping seemed like a good idea then :)

SUNDAY

Thought I would make a bag to go with the Birthday quilt (yet to blog) since it will be in the Jeep at the cottage. I've been wanting to make the Jiffy Tote (picture and pattern)and this was an excellent time to try it. Really!

Bad idea #1: only had 30 inches of focus fabric...made the smaller bag.
Bad idea#2: read the directions very quickly.
Bad idea #3: didn't refer back to the written directions...just plunged ahead using the diagrams.
Bad idea #4: did my 'own thing' on the handles...need I say more?!

Here is the result:
The focus fabric is inside this bag!

The quilt doesn't fit into the bag!

No more focus fabric!

Curious George is just in the picture for the cute factor :)

I'll blog about the Birthday quilt soon as her family reads my blog and would hate to give away the surprise! Yet another idea that didn't turn out as my vision...

When do you suppose I will have a Good Idea That Stays Good?!

4 comments:

Linda C said...

I love how your quilt turned out even if the colors were not quite what you like to work with. The soft blue works well with the airplanes---I notice you didn't say what you did in chat though, LOL. Cracked me up.

And look at you! Already quilted. Sorry that the popcorn panto was a bit harder to work with but it looks wonderful on the quilt.

Thanks for including the link to that cute tote--another one for Norma and Pam, I'm guessing and added to my files for now. Maybe when you aren't pressed for time the bag will finish up just right?

jacquie said...

Ah rats...sometimes it just goes like that. I think the quilt turned out really cute...it would have taken me forever to do that.

SueR said...

A little boy will love the airplanes and not have the same association you do with them. The texture in the quilting is still fabulous, whether it's a little wobbly or not. Now you've got that practice under your belt, and next time you try that panto it'll be better!

Cher said...

I agree with LJ, I love the quilting on this quilt and I really think it came out terrific-sorry you felt it was a series of bad ideas.